This is Not Real
by googleurname
Summary: When Clare discovers that Eli may possibly be very close to death, she discovers more about his life than she knew before. Eclare! Some Adam friendship. LAST CHAPTER IS UP!
1. One

I stabbed at my salad with my fork, and pulled a piece of lettuce into my mouth with my head tilted down.

I looked to my left. There sat my father who had been finished with his dinner for about five minutes, and had a blank expression on his face while he looked at the candle in the middle of the kitchen table. His hair was messy, and he had much stubble on his face. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a mustard stain on the stomach. Worry lines etched across his forehead.

I looked to my right. My mother sat there, with a full plate of salad right in front of her. She had yet to pick up her fork. Her short black hair was straightened, and she was wearing a black skirt with a red blouse. She had a lot of make up on, much more than needed. I could tell she was trying to look good for my father, but he wasn't buying anything that she wanted to sell. Silence filled the air because my parents' drama had gotten so bad that any talking led to arguing.

"Thanks for the dinner, Mom." I said getting up from my chair. She didn't say anything. I placed my dish in the sink and headed upstairs to my room. I looked on the table next to my bed and grabbed my phone. I looked through my contacts and scrolled down to **Eli3**. I texted him.

**Hey.. More family drama. I need to get away right now. Want to hang out?**

I sat down on my bed and waited for a response. I looked at my clock on the wall. It was 6:26. A minute passed. Then one minute turned into two, which turned into three, and eventually turned into fifty-three.

_That's weird, _I thought. _Eli always has his phone with him._

"Clare!" I heard my mom yell from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, mom?"

"You have a phone call!"

I walked down my stairs and grabbed the phone from my mother's hand. She walked back into the kitchen, where my father was still staring blankly at the candle. I put the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

"Clare, this is Eli's mother. Come to St. Michael's Hospital _now."_


	2. Two

**Thanks so much for the reviews guys..even though there were only 5 haha. reviews make my day :)**

**disclaimaa-i don't own degrassi, unfortunately.**

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My legs have never felt heavier. As soon as I received the phone call from the strained voice of Eli's mom, I started running. I didn't exactly know where St. Michael's Hospital was, but that didn't stop me. I followed instincts. When I saw the hospital in clear view, I sighed of relief and sprinted to the door. As soon as I was inside and stopped running, I realized how out of breath and tired I was, and collapsed on a chair next to me.

"Can I help you?" A pale overweight woman at the front desk said impatiently. She was chomping on her gum like a cow.

I continued to breath heavily for a few moments. "Um, actually-"

A voice cut me off. It was the same one I had previously spoken to on the phone. "She's with me."

I looked over to where the voice came from. There stood a tan, medium-height woman with long curly blonde hair. She had freckles all along her face and was wearing an extremely low-cut white shirt with a short blue skirt. She looked like she was about in her twenties and her eyebrows had an immense arch to them.

_Was she really Eli's mom? They look nothing alike. _I thought to myself. The woman started quickly walking over, her heels making a noise each time they hit the floor.

"So you're Clare," She stated, her voice cracking. I noticed there were tears streaming down her face. As soon as she reached me, she leaned in and gave me a big hug.

_Should I be worried? _

She continued. "Eli talks about you all the time. I can tell you're a very good girlfriend, and when I saw that you texted him, I knew that I should call you to tell you what happened."

"Well-what happened?" I asked, my voice thick from holding back tears.

"There was…an accident." She said, and a final tear fell from her cheek and splashed onto the tile floor of the hospital. My heart started to pick up speed.

"What happened? Where's Eli?"

The hospital doors opened frantically, and in came Adam, a close friend to Eli and I. Adam was carrying a black and white composition notebook behind his back that Eli's mother didn't notice. Adam was a boy at heart, but trapped in a females body. Eli and I didn't care, we accepted Adam for who he was.

"Where the hell is he?" He said, his face crimson with anger. He walked up to Eli's mom and looked her straight in the eyes, waiting for a response.

"Hello to you too."

"Shut the hell up, stupid bitch. Just tell me where he is." Adam said angrily. That was so rude, especially to the mother of his best friend.

"_Adam!"_ I whispered, while giving him a warning look. He ignored it, still glaring hard into Eli's mother's eyes.

Eli's mother didn't look upset. In fact, she gave Adam a smile and lifted her eyebrows before saying, "You know that you shouldn't swear, _young lady._"

My mouth formed an O, and I looked at Adam to see his response. His face turned even more red, and his eyes turned to slits of anger. His breathing increased more and more dramatically. He clenched one hand into a fist, and tightened his grip of the composition book behind his back in the other.

He started to talk, pausing after each word. "I am a boy, and everyone will know what you and that asshole Eli calls a dad _really_ are like after they read this." Adam said showing her the composition notebook behind his back.

Her eyes widened and her lip started to quiver. "W-where did you find that?" She asked.

"Eli showed me everything in it, and where he hides it." Adam said smugly.

"Adam, give me the journal." She requested, calmly.

"Burn in hell." Adam said, grabbing my hand, and sprinting out of the hospital doors with me.


	3. Three

Hey guyss..i got boredd and it's like 2:49 am..so yeah i figured i'd give you guys a treat and update twice in one night :D

Disclaimer: I do not own degrassi..nor munro chambers...*sigh*

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"Adam, what was that all about?" I demanded between breaths. We were still running, but eventually hid behind a tree that was in sight of the hospital. Adam leaned against the tree, hugging one of his legs and letting the other one rest in front of him, and I sat cross-legged. I looked up at the sky, and saw it was painted a dark purple and millions of stars lit the sky.

"That _monster_ is not Eli's mom," He made a disgusted face as he said the word monster, as if she were some huge beetle. "Her real name is Trish."

"If she's not Eli's mom, then why is she saying she is?" I asked, a little too loud.

"Be quiet, she might hear us and come get this thing." He said, tapping the cover of the composition book.

I grabbed it from his hand, and stared at the cover. It was completely blank, except for a tiny skull drawn in black marker on the right hand corner of the little white box. I immediately knew that the journal belonged to Eli, and the thought of him made a glossy coat of water around each of my eyes, and tears slid down my cheeks without even blinking. Eventually, those few tears turned into thick sobs. He was in the hospital, possibly with a very serious health condition, and I haven't even seen him let alone know why he's there. My tears fell from my cheek onto Eli's journal, creating a small puddle on it. Adam leaned forward, placed his arms around me, forcing me into a huge hug. I hugged back and buried my face in his chest.

"Why's he in the hospital?" I asked, my voice thick and almost not understandable.

"If you read the journal, you'll figure it out. I'm not sure Eli would want you to read some of the stuff in there though." Adam told me.

"Why wouldn't he?" I asked, still crying.

"Some of the stuff is just too.." He pondered for the right word. "_real. _There's pictures too. It's really messed up. Then some other stuff is about you and it's pretty queer." A hint of a smile approached his face, then vanished after a second.

"Okay," I said. "Do you mind if I read it now?"

"Nah," Adam said, "You go ahead. I can keep an eye out on the hospital. Trish will probably be leaving soon to try to find me and take the journal, and when she leaves we can go in and um, check on Eli."

The thought of checking up on Eli brought a shiver to my spine. I had not even the slightest clue of what we would be checking up on. Was he even alive at this point? I shook my head and attempted to gulp down the imaginary knot in my throat. I looked down at the tearstained journal that belonged to my boyfriend, and realized that I wouldn't be able to read because it was so dark out.

"Adam, can I borrow your phone?" I asked. He nodded, dug his hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt, and brought out a small Verizon cell phone. I opened it up to let the light shine on the journal, and opened the cover.

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Soooo... i know. that was a super-duper boring chapter. i'm sorry :(. but i PROMISE the next few chapters will totally make up for it!

for every review i'll adopt a dying puppy from the pound..okay not really..but please review anyway :)


	4. Four

Disclaimer-I don't own degrassi

keep reviewing please!

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Dear Journal,

This is supposed to be my English journal, but I don't really care. I can just use regular paper for English class right? Besides, I have more important things on my mind while I'm in English than lacking a journal. Particularly Clare Edwards. Clare is a cute, short girl with curly auburn hair and bright, sky blue eyes that I can practically feel staring at the back of my neck each day. Ever since we got paired up as partners, we became best friends, even though I've never wanted anything more in my whole life than to be able to call her mine. I know it sounds really cliché, but I honestly don't care.

One time, I remember Clare was having family issues. She texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out, and I obviously agreed. I practically speeded to her house, and she skipped over to Morty in a blue flowery day skirt. Damn, she's so cute. Anyway, we were driving and she started opening up to me about her parents and how she felt like she had to live up to her sister, Darcy. Then she started going on about how she had always felt self-conscious about her body. Darcy was constantly being called attractive and had many boyfriends, and Clare only had one, who dumped her for a blonde cheerleader. She must have called herself ugly at least nine times. While she was telling me this, I felt my heart splitting in two pieces. So, I stopped my car in some abandoned parking lot and turned down the radio. I took my hands and cupped her face and said, "Clare Edwards, you are the most beautiful person I have ever met inside and out." Her face immediately turned scarlet red, and a huge grin appeared on her face. Then I thought, _damn, she probably knows I like her now_, so I quickly said "besides me, of course." and she playfully hit my arm.

The truth is, telling Clare that she was beautiful made me feel like I had lifted two 400 pound weights off my shoulders. Clare is so perfect but I would never want to risk our friendship. She almost makes me forget about my dad and Trish.

Eli

_I can feel the pink on my cheeks. I can't believe Eli had written about my self-esteem issues, but oh well. It doesn't matter because that's all in the past now. Eli's health is much more important. _I flipped the page_._

Dear Journal,

Trish and my dad have done it again. I wonder why me, out of all people have to deal with them. Today, it started when I was on my bed doing my English essay, which was filled with really smart vocabulary so it would impress Clare. Anyway, in stumbled my dad with a beer bottle in his hand. I looked at him and got up from my bed and tried to run through the doorway, but he blocked it. His brown hair was messy and his gut was hanging out from underneath his white t-shirt.

"Eli," He said in a deep voice. "How about some family bonding?" His words were slurred. I tried to push past him through the doorway, but he only got angrier. I backed away, and he slowly came toward me, exiting the doorway and entering my room. I looked behind him and saw Trish with a cigarette in her hand, closing and locking the door from the outside. He had me backed up in a corner, and he threw his beer bottle towards me, aiming for my chest but hitting my leg. I screamed and felt the blood run down my leg from the shattered glass poking through my black jeans. He pushed me down and kicked me in my 'area.' Then he started kicking and punching my stomach repeatedly. I screamed and tears rolled down my face from the pain, but the louder I was the more he kicked so I bit my lip to stop from screaming.

Eventually, he stopped kicking me and yelled to Trish so she would come in the room. I was laying on the floor, my leg losing more and more blood by the second. My "area" was on fire and so was my stomach. I was lying in a puddle of my own blood. Trish entered the room, and laughed when she saw my pathetic figure on the ground. She walked over with her cigarette in one hand, rolled up my sleeve, and burned my arm with her cigarette. I yelled again, but my father didn't seem to notice because he started to kiss Trish, and she kissed back. Soon enough, their clothes were off and they were having sex on the ground right in front of me. I slammed my eyes shut, but that didn't help because I could still hear my father's repulsive grunts of pleasure. After what seemed like eternity, they left my room. I sat there, the image on repeat in my head. I started crying some more, and realized that if I didn't stop the blood from my leg I could have a serious problem on my hands. So I, pulled all the glass from my leg, and crawled toward my bed. I took the sheets from my bed and placed them against my cuts, which eventually stopped the bleeding.

Now here I am, two hours later with the image of Trish and my father replaying in my head constantly. Sometimes, I just wish I could kill myself because death seems a lot easier than my life, but I know I never would. I could never do that to Clare or Adam. Anyway, I'll take some pictures of my injuries and I'll put them in the journal later.. As proof or something.

Eli

I stared at the page, at a complete loss for words. I wanted to kill Trish and Eli's pathetic father. I actually wanted to see their blood and their cold lifeless bodies. My hands were shaking violently and my eyebrows moved closer and closer together. To say I was angry would be an understatement. He said he had pictures, but did I really want to look at them? Without thinking of the answer, I turned the page, and my heart stopped.

The first picture was of Eli's leg. Six long streams of dark red blood dripped from the six deep wounds caused by the broken beer bottle. In the background was a blood-stained white bed sheet which was definitely the one he used to stop the bleeding. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be sitting on a couch, nursing Eli's leg back to full health.

The second picture was of Eli's stomach. There were two bruises the size of basketballs. I decided I couldn't study the picture any longer, and threw the journal in front of me. I started to sob into my hands, dropping Adam's cell phone beside me, and then picked the phone back up. I used the cell phone light to look at Adam. He was asleep, still lying next to the tree. If you exited the hospitals doors, you would not be able to see Adam or me because the tree was in the way. I drew a sigh of relief, because that means Trish doesn't know where we are.

_Is Trish still in the hospital or did she leave? Can I check on Eli now? Shit, where did I throw the journal? What if Trish finds it? I _have _to get that journal._

_I stood up, and used Adam's phone as a light yet again. I walked around for about fifteen minutes before I heard a voice. _

_It was Trish's voice._

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another cliffhanger! okay, was this chapter too weird for you guys? i can tone it down if you want. please review!


	5. Five

Okay, a few things I want to address.

1. Some people didn't like my last chapter at all, and I'm really sorry about that. I had a bad feeling about it, too.

2. Eli did NOT get raped. He was forced to lay there when Trish and his father did it, I thought I made that kind of clear, but sorry if i didn't.

3. Thanks for reviewing.

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"Clare, is that you honey?"

I froze. _What was I supposed to say to this woman? Think, Clare, come up with a plan. Wait, answer her first._

"Yeah, it's me." I said, timidly.

"Well, what are you doing? Where's Adam?" She asked. _C'mon Clare, you are in all advanced classes. Think._

I crossed my arms to my chest. "Adam told me that he went to The Dot to get coffee," I said. _Good start, but that won't buy you enough time. _"Then he said that he'll be checking into a motel so you won't find him. I don't know which motel." My voice was cracking.

"Aren't you friends with Adam?"

"Um, not anymore. He told me he was going to The Dot and then a motel, and I told him to just give you

the journal. Then he pushed me down and ran away." I said, hoping she wouldn't catch my lie.

"Okay, thank you Clare." She said, running to her car. I let my tense body relax, and I fell to the ground. I watched Trish open her car door and drive off, heading off in the direction of The Dot. Shills ran down my spine. I was absolutely terrified of that woman. I stood up, walked back towards the tree, and found Adam, still sound asleep. I started to shake him.

"_Adam, wake up!"_ I hissed.

"Okay, okay. I'm awake," He said in a thick, sleepy voice. "What's going on?"

"Trish is going to go to The Dot, and then she's going to check out every motel in Toronto to try to look for you." I said, extremely proud of myself.

"Okay," Adam said. "Let's go see Eli." I swallowed a breath of hair, and silently nodded my head.

I stood up, and my legs felt like spaghetti noodles. Adam put a friendly arm around me, which helped me walk a little more steadily. The knot in my throat returned and my brain thought of numerous possibilities of what Eli is like right now. Adam and I entered the hospital doors again, and I sat down in one of the chairs while Adam talked to the woman behind the front desk. Soon enough, she gave Adam and I permission to go see Eli. I stood up again, and we took the elevator to level 4. The strong sensation of worry clouded my mind, and I could barely think straight.

Finally the elevator made a _bing _noise. We exited the elevator, and made a right. Adam looked at the numbers on the doors, quietly naming each one as we passed it. Then he suddenly came to a halt, and stared at door 218. Slowly, his hand reached for the doorknob.

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Sorry for another cliffhanger, and another terrible chapter. I'm seriously thinking about just sticking to oneshots, because this is my first chaptered fic..I didn't get a lot of reviews for my oneshots, but everybody who read them loved them..so yeah haha. Tell me if you think I should just stick to oneshots.

I'll most likely update this again later tonight because I'm sick and have no plans :( haha. REVIEW!


	6. Six

woohoo, the moment you've all been waiting for. eli's in this chapter!

disclaimer: i don't own degrassi. i forgot to do a disclaimer for chapters 1 and 5..so just clearing this up, i didn't own degrassi any of those times either D:

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Adam turned the doorknob, and forced the hospital door open. Before us, lay Eli Goldsworthy in a white hospital bed, sound asleep. The blanket covered all of his body, but stopped at his neck. I shuddered when I thought of the bruises that blanket was hiding from the world. His left eye was swollen shut, and the lid was completely purple. His right eye was completely undisturbed, and his face looked beautiful-in a damaged way-as his breath entered and released from his nose.

My hands instantly left my sides in unison and covered my mouth. It physically hurt me to see somebody who had helped me through everything in such a condition, and all of a sudden, I felt a wave of guilt. I had been so selfish over the months, always complaining about my family problems. So what if my parents were going through a rough patch? Eli's father had been kicking, beating, damaging his body, and _fucking with his mind. _Trish had helped, too. God knows what happened to Eli's real mom, who might have even possibly been murdered by them. Then, Eli has to listen to me complain about how fat I am, and that my mom and dad yell at each other more than they did when I was younger. In comparison to him, I had the perfect life. My golden shoes were too tight and my crown didn't fit.

I looked over to see Adam's reaction, and I saw it all in his crystal blue eyes. They lacked the tears, but the sorrow was still present. I watched them as they studied Eli's presense before us, and they moved slightly after each second. After a few seconds, the pair of eyes left Eli, blinked, and met mine. We were both thinking the same thing: We both wanted Eli awake.

I walked over to the sleeping boy, and sat quietly and slowly on his bed, careful not to wake him. I felt

honoured to be so close to him, since all the drama tonight was occurring because of him. I could hear the

sound of air leaving his nose, and then returning. I wondered what he was dreaming about. Did he have

happy dreams, possibly involving a romantic date with me underneath the stars? Or did he have nightmares

involving his father and Trish?

With that thought in my mind, I decided to disturb his slumber. My hand reached forward and grabbed his

arm ever so slightly. He continued to sleep, so I shook his arm back and forth, while saying "Eli," in a

comforting voice. Slowly, his right eye opened and stared ahead of him. He saw Adam and a smile appeared

on his face, but then his eye wandered to his arm. I saw the curiosity on his face as of who the hand

belonged to that was grabbing him. His pupil rose and landed on my face, then his entire eye widened.

"Clare," He said, his smile widening, revealing his slightly crooked, yet perfect white teeth. I was at a

complete loss for words. So I leaned over and planted a big, passionate kiss on his lips. He kissed back, and

is was surprisingly even more passionate than my attempt. He could have written me a fifty page letter

about how much he missed me, but that would not have made the point come across as much as this kiss

did. Finally, his tongue left his mouth and licked my lips. I parted my lips and his tongue

entered my mouth and started to explore. I let my tongue tickle and comfort his, which he seemed to enjoy.

This continued for a few more seconds until we were interrupted by a forced cough. I

pulled away and looked at the direction where it came from. Adam stood there awkwardly, yet a little pissed

off with his arms crossed, staring at us.

"Sorry," I said, feeling the heat sweep across my face. Eli smirked.

"It's cool," Adam said, walking toward us. He stood by the bed. "But Eli, what the hell man? You're

smiling and making out with your girlfriend while your laying in a hospital bed?"

"It's not that bad.. I'll be out soon. And Clare just brings out the best in me." Eli said, looking in my eyes. I

blushed again.

"Cute," Adam said sarcastically. "But do you mind telling us what happened this time?"

"Adam, it's none of our business, and Eli.. I know about what your dad and Trish do to you. I'm so sorry

and if I knew, I never would have-" Eli cut me off.

"Clare, stop. None of this is your fault. And Adam, I _want _to tell you guys. So it happened when I

got home from school today," Eli began. "I walked in and everything was totally quiet. I figured

nothing was wrong so I went upstairs to my room and opened the door. Trish was sitting down on

my bed reading my journal. When she saw me, she stood up and started screaming. She kept

yelling and telling me to burn it or else she'd get my dad to kill me," Eli gulped. "So I took

the journal from her and walked to the fireplace to trick her, then sprinted back into my room and

shoved it underneath one of pieces of wood in my floor. My dad and Trish chased after me. My

dad was drunk as usual, and started beating me senseless. I guess he was trying

to teach me a lesson. But this beating was pretty much ten times worse than all of his other

beatings. He kicked me until everything turned cold and black. I thought I died, and I probably

would have if I didn't wake up in the hospital. It turns out Trish called 911 and blamed this whole

thing on my dad. She was trying to play the whole innocent step-mom act and they believed her."

Eli said, disgusted.

"Eli, we'll sort this all out," I promised.

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "I got the journal from your house."

I froze. _The journal is still outside._


	7. Seven

Disclaimer: i don't own degrassi, degrassi owns me.

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"Adam, come with me. _Now." _I grabbed his hand, and pulled him from the bed. He looked at me like I had three heads. "Please, it's really important."

Adam nodded and followed me.

"Wait, guys!" Eli pleaded. I ignored his requests, and made no attempt to tell him my ridiculous mistake. There was no point in scaring him like that. Adam and I exited the room, closed the door, and I whispered to him our situation.

"Nice move, genius," Adam said. "but whatever, it's not a big deal. Let's just run outside really quick and find it. Trish is probably on her second or third motel by now." Adam grinned.

"Yeah!" I said, the corners of my mouth spiralling up, revealing my teeth. "Sorry, I guess I didn't really think."Adam and I walked toward the elevator and hit the down button, and my face turned a light shade of pink. I felt so stupid because I had freaked out without even leaving Eli an explanation. There wasn't even anything to freak out about. I shrugged and told myself that we could explain when we returned to Eli's hospital room. The elevator made a _bing_ noise, and we left it, and walked to the main entrance. We exited that too, and walked into a world of darkness, except for a few street lamps. I squinted my eyes, looked forward, and saw the tree.

"I threw it somewhere near that tree." I stated. Adam nodded and we walked quickly towards the tree, the steps of our feet in complete unison. The breeze ran through the sunless skies, taking nips at my unclothed arms. The only protection I had an my arms was the short sleeved shirt that stopped just below my shoulders. I felt the goose bumps form on my skin, and I crossed my arms over my chest. Adam looked over at me and smiled. He pulled his grey sweatshirt over his head and handed it to me. I just looked at him.

"Because Eli isn't here to do it himself." I laughed, and took the sweatshirt from him. I pulled it over my head and let the warmth of it take over my body. I stopped walking.

"I think I dropped the journal somewhere near here." I said. Adam took out his phone and pressed a button so that the whole screen lit up. He moved pointed the light at the ground and started walking, looking for the journal. Then, instead of one bright light pointing on the ground, there were two. I looked behind me to where the other light was coming from and saw Trish smiling with a flashlight in her hand.

I screamed. I don't know why, but I did it. It's not like the flashlight was a gun or anything, but I honestly didn't care. That woman was downright malicious and she had harmed my boyfriend. I loathed her. I wanted her dead. However, being only in grade 10 and barely 5'2, that seemed close to impossible. So, I kept screaming. It was so blaring and ear-splitting, I heard dogs bark in the distance. It had seemed that that one day when Eli and I had skipped English class to work on our assignments had taught me something.

"Shut the fuck up!" Trish boomed. I did. She continued. "It seems you two have lost something."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said almost instantly.

"'Oh really?" Trish asked in a sarcastic tone. "Because.. I swore I could have heard you say that you dropped Eli's journal _somewhere around here._" She said the last three words like I had said them minutes prior, mocking me. I saw Adam's cell phone light flicker to different places behind me. I knew he was looking for the journal, but I don't think Trish noticed.

"Leave us alone." I said.

She laughed. "Or what?" Then, I saw Adam run east for about 20 seconds, bend over, and pick something up. Trish definitely noticed this.

I started walking quickly towards Adam the journal in his hand. Adam then shined his light on Trish, and I got a good look at her. She had changed out of her short blue skirt, and replaced it with tight skinny jeans. She wore a long, black coat with one of her hands in her coat pocket, and the other hand was holding the flashlight which beamed in my face.

"Listen Clare," She began calmly. I stopped walking "I like you. Besides you lying to me about where Adam was earlier, you seem kind of sweet for an ugly girl." The word 'ugly' stung like a thousand needles in my heart. Deep down I knew it was true, but the voice in my head told me she was only saying this to get on my nerves. She knew I had a low confidence from reading Eli's journal.

"Come on, Clare. Let's go." Adam said.

"No!" I roared. I took a step towards Trish.

"Trish," I started. "There are two kinds of bitch in the world. The first is where you see something wrong happening, and you let it keep happening. And the second is where you actually do it yourself. However, you are _both _kinds of bitches which is a whole new level of pathetic. Go fuck that drunken under-achiever. I hope you still get pleasure even though Eli's not going to be there to watch it, whore." I gave her one last glare are starting walking away but stopped when I saw her pull something silver and shiny from her coat pocket. Her eyes were formed into slits and filled with pure hatred. She started to walk toward me, and I saw what the silvery shiny thing really was: a knife.

My mouth formed an o, as if I was trying to say something but the words just wouldn't come out. My mind flashed back to the night when Fitz almost stabbed Eli, only this time I was in Eli's place. My legs couldn't move, my arms couldn't move. I felt completely frozen. Trish stepped closer and closer to me, smiled, and poked the knife against the sweatshirt Adam was letting me borrow.

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sorry for yet another cliffy. i'm starting to think that i don't know how to end a chapter without one haha..i guess chapter 2 was kind of a cliffy..i don't know, its up to you. anyway, i want to thank all of my reviewers..one of them just sticks out in my brain..zeldaskeeper..she was my first reviewer for this story and is always so nice, haha. but i also want to thank ALL THE REST OF YOU TOO! p.s. the story is almost over.


	8. Eight

I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN UPDATING! I've been so busy with school and soccer practice and stuff..oh and don't worry, this isn't the last chapter..but the story is almost over.

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi. You should know that by now.

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At that second, it was like I was already dead.

I couldn't smell the scent of the smoker right in front of me. I couldn't taste the warm spit in my mouth. I couldn't hear the sound of my breath intensifying. I couldn't see anything but memories of my childhood. I couldn't feel the sharp, deadly knife poking my chest. Hell, I couldn't even think straight.

My only wish at that moment was that Trish would give me a quick, painless death. I let my mind wander to the memories playing like a DVD in my head.

"_Clare," A five year old Alli said, her black hair pulled back in two bouncy pig tails. "The one who's older is _always '_it' in tag."_

_I looked at my shoes and bit my lip. "But I'm only a month older." My lips started trembling and tears formed in my eyes before streaming down my face._

"_Clare! Don't cry!" The little girl said before pulling the girl she had just met at the park into a hug. "If you really, really want me to, I'll be 'it.'" I held tightly onto the slightly shorter girl before pulling away and wiping my nose with my sleeve._

"_Do you wanna be friends?" I asked her shyly._

"_I wanna be BEST friends!" The little girl said, a grin approaching on her face and a dimple forming._

"_Okay!" I said, my face lighting up. "But you're not gunna catch me!" I started running away as fast as my five-year-old legs could carry me. She started laughing, chasing after me._

The scene changed and another memory formed in my head.

_I sat down on the pink bedspread, and Darcy sitting at a desk typing away on a computer. The TV was shining in my face on a low volume, playing some old black and white movie. I was dressed in my pajamas since it was nine o'clock, but Darcy was dressed in a cute shirt and jeans. I looked at the woman on the TV who was slow dancing with an attractive young man. She was thin, blonde, and had striking features. I looked over to the door and saw the uniform hanging on the doorknob that I wore everyday. I sighed._

"_Darcy?" I asked her timidly._

"_What?" She asked, in a surprisingly mean tone. My body jumped a little._

"Am I ugly?" I gulped a little. I was surprised at myself for picking up the courage to ask my sister this, and my heart picked up speed.

She stopped brushing my hair. "I don't know." She said. She stood up, glancing at the TV one last time, and left the room just like that. My heart stopped and a tear rolled down my cheek. She might as well said I was hideous. I got up from the bed and walked over to the full-length body mirror in the corner of the room. I looked at my appearance up and down. A chubby girl with ugly long hair and glasses looked back. I finally broke down crying, curled up on the floor, and cried myself to sleep.

My flashback was interrupted by reality, and I my heart stopped yet again as I remembered the situation I was in again. Trish hadn't stabbed me yet, but the knife was seconds away from entering the inside of my chest. _Just get it over with. _I thought.

All of a sudden, I heard sirens approaching us. Cop cars and ambulances sped down the street towards us, and out came a bunch of men carrying flashlights.

"HELP!" Adam shrieked. And one of the policemen shined their flashlight on our faces and came running towards us. Trish dropped the knife and started running in her blue high heels, but eventually tripped. Another policeman came at her and tackled her to the ground. She tried to squirm away but he hit her in the head with his flashlight twice and she stopped squirming, defeated.

The policeman came towards Adam and I. He asked us if we were alright, and I ran toward him, throwing my arms around his neck. I sobbed and sobbed in his shoulder and he patted me on the back.

"Everything is going to be okay." The man said.


	9. Nine

SORRY FOR THE LONG-ASS WAIT! THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. LOVE YOU ALL, THANKS FOR EVERY REVIEW!

Disclaimer: for the last time, i don't own degrassi.

* * *

I took a deep breath, and opened the front entrance to Degrassi. It was a sunny Monday morning, a few days after that terrifying night. As soon as I opened the doors, a flood of people swarmed toward me. Random people who I didn't even have the slightest clue who they were gave me hugs and asked me if I was okay. I ignored all the questions, not saying a word. My face had turned tomato red.. I've always hated being in the spotlight. I looked up and saw Alli, so I practically ran towards her to escape from the crowd of people surrounding me.

"Clare, it was all over the news. I was so scared when I was watching it. Tell me everything." She said, wrapping me in a hug.

"Well," I said hugging back, then releasing myself. "Long story short.. Eli's dad and step-mom were doing some pretty illegal stuff and Eli kept a journal and wrote about it all. The entire night Adam and I were pretty much running around trying to escape from the step-mom. When they caught her trying to stab me, Adam showed the journal to the police and Eli's step-mom started crying and screaming, 'This is not real!' It was really pathetic but whatever. I'm actually so relieved now, because now I know Eli's safe." I said with a smile.

"Oh my God, are you sure? I would be flipping out if I were you." Alli exclaimed.

"It's totally okay. I'm fine." I looked over towards the door and saw another swarm of people crowding Eli. He eventually managed to push through the people and made his way towards me. When I looked back to Alli, she was skipping off down the hallways. I smiled and walked towards him.

"Hey Edwards. What's crackin'?" He said. I laughed.

"We aren't even going to talk at all about what happened? I don't even know where you're staying now." He put his arm around me and we started walking down the hallway.

"My uncle's taking me in. He's a pretty cool guy." He said

"You sure? No more crazy step-moms?" I asked, concern thickening my voice.

Eli smirked. "Well, that's all in the past now," I looked up at his face, and took in the twinkling green eyes gazing into mine. "Now we can enjoy _our future." He said. He tightened his arm, pulling me closer._

_I looked back into his eyes and he surprised me with a light kiss. We stayed like that for a few seconds before he slowly pulled away, but not completely. He gazed at me like I was the most amazing thing to ever walk this planet, which immediately made me blush._

"_You're beautiful." He said. And for the first time, I believed it._


End file.
